Tiger Magic

Walker didn’t answer right away. Tiger returned to watching him with his Shifter stare, but Walker looked back without flinching.

“You told me you were in a Special Forces unit attached to Shifter Bureau South,” Carly said, again unable to wait for Tiger to win the stare down. “What does that mean? What does the Shifter Bureau do, exactly?”

“Welfare of Shifters,” Walker said. He talked readily when given questions he felt comfortable answering. “Set up twenty years ago to look into the problem of integrating the Shifters with humans, and to liaise with Congress and other departments who regulate Shifters.”

“They created the Shiftertowns, you mean,” Carly said.

“Necessary to protect and reassure the general public that dangerous people weren’t moving into their neighborhoods or becoming threats to their children. If the Shifters lived apart for a time, proving they can do so peacefully, they’ll be more accepted when it’s time for them to integrate with the rest of the population.”

“Sure,” Carly said, wrinkling her nose. “Like that idea has worked so well in the past. All right, you’ve given me the spiel, the mission statement, but what do you do, in your Special Forces unit? Spy on Shifters?”

“Oversight. Make sure Shifters aren’t living outside the parameters that would cause danger to humans, or that humans aren’t causing danger to Shifters.”

“Outside the parameters,” Rebecca said casually. “Like a bear with PMS?”

Walker’s twitch of the lips returned. “Like Shifters with Collars that malfunction, or Shifters not on our radar until a few months ago. Or a Shifter name in the database that doesn’t match any Shifter I’ve eyeballed, and a Shifter living here that no one calls by name.” His gaze returned pointedly to Tiger.

“What name?” Carly asked. “In the database? Wait, there’s a database?”

“The name is Rory Sylvester,” Walker said. “Any ideas?”

Tiger didn’t change expression. Carly shook her head. “I haven’t met enough Shifters to know.”

“Someone has a sense of humor,” Walker said while the bears and Elizabeth remained silent. “Felis silvestris is a wildcat. Rory . . . maybe for roaring? Whoever inserted that name thought he—or she—was being funny.”

“Doesn’t the Shifter Bureau input the records?” Carly asked. “The name had to come from somewhere.”

“I know it did,” Walker said. “I look at the databases every day. When the name popped up overnight, and no one at the Bureau admitted to entering it, I decided I wanted to know who it belonged to.”

“I don’t like that name,” Tiger said flatly, breaking in. “It isn’t mine.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Walker was the only human Tiger had met so far who didn’t immediately look away from him. Except Carly, of course. She looked at him fully, with no fear, no submission.

“We’re on the same side,” Walker said to Tiger, holding his gaze, ignoring Tiger’s statement about the name. “We’re trying to figure out who you are, where you came from, and why you can do what you do. You should be dead, but you’re walking around. Not even in pain.”

No, Walker was wrong about the pain. Tiger’s pain had been immense, and he was still sore. Being with Carly helped, but the healing wasn’t instantaneous.

“Why do you want to know who I am?” Tiger asked. “I’m nobody. I live with Liam and help Connor fix Shifters’ cars.”

“You’re not nobody. You’re different. And I mean more than you being the only Bengal tiger around.”

Tiger sat straight in his chair, liking that Carly was so near. Her presence, her scent, the lingering feeling of being inside her, gave him strength. “When you find out all about me, what will you do?”

Walker shrugged. “Don’t know. Whatever my commander and the Shifter Bureau decides.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Carly said.

“They’ll study you, probably,” Walker said. “Find out what makes you different.”

“Still not sounding good.” Carly’s indignation touched Tiger with a scent like wood smoke.

“We need Liam.” Ronan broke in from down the table. “I don’t like this.”

Tiger didn’t like it either. His heart beat faster, sending tingles of fear through his body, though he didn’t let himself show any discomfort. “They’d experiment on me.”

“Maybe,” Walker said. “Not really my decision.”

Carly tensed behind Tiger, the wood smoke scent turning sharp with her anger. “What do you mean maybe?” she demanded. “You don’t experiment on a person. That’s weird, and wrong.”

“Like I said, not my decision.”

“Then whose decision is it?” Tiger asked.

“My commanding officer’s. Or the head of the Shifter Bureau. I don’t know. I’m not that high in the food chain.”

Carly leaned forward, resting her arm on the table. It just touched Tiger, the warmth of her stilling his fear again. “I bet you’re higher than you let on,” she said.

Tiger knew she was right. Walker was playing the junior man, pretending he knew only what he’d been told, giving up to them nonessential things that Shifters could have found out without much effort. Tiger was willing to bet Liam already knew most of what Walker had said.